The vehicles were not built, however, to withstand 200-pounds worth of explosives. "They’ve flipped MRAPs 15 feet in the air sometimes," says one U.S. officer in Afghanistan. "And they break them in half."

And the real bitch of it is that the heavy MRAPs, which saved so many lives in Iraq, may be all wrong for the Afghan theater."During my recent embed with Marines in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province,the number one gear complaint was the MRAP," Nathan wrote a few weeks back. "It was too wide for most roads, and the top-heavy vehicles were prone to rollover."